Size matters for NZ's sheet-web spider: larger males win female attention

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-04-15 03:00

New Zealand

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During New Zealand's summer, male sheet-web spiders compete against each other for females in high-stakes physical battles. Researchers have discovered male spiders may be more likely to win contests if they are bigger, and therefore have greater success in mating. In the study, contests between same-sized rivals took longer to resolve. The authors say learning from staged contests in the field may better reflect natural behaviours, compared with lab-based studies.